Back Row with Amy Odell

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Referenced in this episode:

Facelift confessions, part 1: https://www.backrow.net/p/facelift-confessions-part-1-the-brutal-realities-of-getting-work-done

Facelift confessions, part 2: https://www.backrow.net/p/facelift-confessions-part-2-expect-an-emotional-toll

In 2004, Fox turned plastic surgery into primetime entertainment. The Swan reality show gave contestants about $200,000 worth of surgery each, put them on crash diets, banned mirrors for three months, and then put them in a beauty pageant. Nine million people watched. Erin Lee Carr, director of 'Mommy Dead and Dearest' and 'Britney vs Spears,' goes back to the women 20 years later in her hit Hulu documentary, The Swan: Behind the Mirror — and tells Amy what the documentary couldn't.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

04:45 Getting the Swans to talk again

10:00 "I almost died for reality television"

19:30 How much choice did they have? "1%"

22:45 Starvation diets and spoonfuls of peanut butter

26:00 The nude photos Dr. Haworth kept

28:50 The $5 million contract

36:50 "Would you do it again?"

40:00 A classic Anna Wintour story

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SUBSCRIBE to the Back Row newsletter for the FULL Fashion Month Awards podcast and get more coverage like this: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe. Save three months on an annual subscription.

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The spring 2027 shows just wrapped in Paris, a year after the "Great Reset" brought new creative directors to Chanel, Dior, and many more. Amy is joined by Dana Thomas, New York Times bestselling author of Deluxe, Gods and Kings and Fashionopolis, to hand out Fashion Month Awards.

They get into John Galliano's PR rehab after the canceled Met show, who's having the biggest sophomore slump, and more.

The full episode for Premium subscribers includes awards for Best Runway Stunt and Best Overall, plus analysis of John Galliano's weak Zara launch and Virginie Viard's explosive book.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
04:30 Biggest sophomore slump
10:45 Best show nobody talked about
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Mrs. Dow Jones (Haley Sacks) on how to stop impulse buying and why fashion month keeps you broke. Part One of two.

For part two — about Birkins and fashion's play to woo the wealthiest shoppers — get a Premium subscription to Back Row: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe. Save three months on an annual subscription.

Or sign up in Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/back-row-with-amy-odell/id1843400835) or Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/0wpDOgcuWKjpH9WxklNqI4)

Haley Sacks, aka @MrsDowJones, joins Amy to break down how fashion month keeps us stuck in a cycle of broke. Every season the same trend gets planted on the runway, in your feed, and on influencers, and within two weeks a cheaper version shows up at Zara.

Haley talks about how to stop impulse buying, why luxury goods are so expensive, and what it was like to grow up in one of the world's wealthiest neighborhoods.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

01:30 How fashion month keeps us in a cycle of broke

04:00 From the runway to Zara in two weeks

08:00 Buy fewer, better things

10:00 How to stop impulse buying

16:00 The luxury pyramid and the $690 keychain

20:00 Is any luxury actually worth it?

22:00 Hunting a sold-out clutch with an AI agent

25:30 Haley's years as an Upper East Side nanny

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Follow Haley Sacks

📷 Follow Haley on Instagram: @mrsdowjones

📖 Buy Haley's book, Future Rich Person: https://link.amazon/B07xqeKEx🎙️

🎙️Follow Haley's Financial Tea podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/financial-tea-with-mrs-dow-jones/id1860939850

🎙️ Follow Haley's Financial Tea podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/58anKIbkGzd5MkI3v0BjY2
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Harry and Meghan are back in the UK, six years after leaving the royal family. In the first part of Back Row's deep dive into Meghan Markle, Amy and former Us Weekly and Hello! editor Justin Ravitz — who has interviewed Prince Harry and worked with the couple's team — trace Meghan's story from her Los Angeles childhood to the night she met Harry.

Part two is available to Back Row Premium subscribers.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

09:00 Meghan's Los Angeles childhood

12:30 Age 11: taking on Procter & Gamble

16:15 Briefcase No. 24 on Deal or No Deal

22:45 Landing Suits

30:00 The Tig blog and Meghan's Goop dream

35:30 Social climbing and Soho House

43:30 Humanitarian ambitions and meeting Harry

Subscribe to the Back Row newsletter: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe

Buy The Palace Papers by Tina Brown: https://link.amazon/B02EAsx6X

Follow Back Row: @backrow · Follow Amy: @instamyodell · Follow Justin: @jaydubargh

Edited by Chrissi Harris.

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PJ Smith, director of fashion policy for Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society), has spent almost 20 years getting companies from Gucci to Net-a-Porter to go fur-free.

Now that most top fashion brands have sworn off fur, is wool the next big target for animal welfare activists? PJ talks about why, thanks to LVMH, the fur fight isn't quite over, how he got brands to change their mind about fur, and what's next.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

02:30 Why fur-free NYFW is historic

08:00 How Humane World actually changes brands' minds

18:30 Fur farming down 85% — the numbers

22:30 PETA vs. H&M: the wool protests

25:30 Is wool humane? Mulesing explained

46:30 Exotic skins: the next target

52:00 PJ's biggest lesson after 20 years

Subscribe to the Back Row newsletter: https://www.backrow.net/subscribe

Follow Back Row: @backrow · Follow Amy: @instamyodell

Edited by Chrissi Harris.

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